• Population: 9,045,389
• Capital: Stockholm
• Area: 449,964 sq km
• Currency: Swedish krona (SEK)
• Language: Swedish. Sámi- and Finnish-speaking minorities.
• Religion: Lutheran 87%, Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Baptist, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist
• Ethnic groups: Swedes, Finnish and Sami minorities; immigrants: Finns, Yugoslavs, Danes, Norwegians, Greeks, Turks

The largest of the five Nordic countries, Kingdom of Sweden forms part of Scandinavia in northwestern Europe. Rich in iron ores and forest resources, Sweden is an advanced industrial nation with a high standard of living. The Swedish name, Sverige, comes from Svearike, meaning the kingdom of the Svear.

The capital of Sweden is Stockholm. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. Built atop 14 islands around one of Europe's largest and best preserved medieval city centres, Stockholm has a historic and cultural magnificence which is virtually unrivalled in northern Europe. The city offers a multitude of national cultural institutions - from a wealth of fine museums and theatres to exciting attractions and events for visitors to experience.

Swedes are among the greatest consumers of newspapers in the world, and nearly every town is served by a local paper. The country's main quality morning papers are Dagens Nyheter (liberal), Göteborgs-Posten (liberal), Svenska Dagbladet (liberal conservative) and Sydsvenska Dagbladet (liberal). The country's news is reported in English by, among others, The Local (liberal).

Sweden has a rich musical tradition, ranging from medieval folk ballads to hip hop music. It is the third largest music exporter in the world surpassed only by the US and the UK.

ABBA was one of the first internationally well-known popular music bands from Sweden, and still ranks among the most prominent bands in the world, with about 370 million records sold. With ABBA, Sweden entered into a new era, in which Swedish pop music gained international prominence. There have been many other internationally successful bands since, such as Roxette, Ace of Base, Europe, A-teens ,The Cardigans and The Hives, to name some of the biggest, and recently there has been a surge of Swedish Indie pop bands such as Loney, Dear, Shout Out Louds and The Radio Dept.. One of the biggest bands in Sweden is the rockband Kent.

Sport activities are a national movement with half of the population actively participating, much thanks to the heavy government subsidies of sport associations (föreningsstöd). The two main spectator sports are football and ice hockey. Second to football, horse sports have the highest number of practitioners, mostly women.

The Swedish ice hockey team Tre Kronor is regarded as one of the very best in the world and has won the World Championships eight times, which makes them third in the medal count. Sweden is also the eighth most successful country in the Olympic games in history.